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Addiction

Drug Trends

Annual surveys of drug use and abuse among adolescents show both encouraging and discouraging trends. Cigarette smoking is at its lowest level ever recorded, although the use of smokeless tobacco is increasing among youth. Alcohol use has declined since 2004. Use of amphetamines and cocaine is dropping.

Nonmedical use of prescription painkillers in increasing among young people. Nearly one in 10 high school seniors reports use of Vicodin and one in 20 uses OxyContin. A majority of students reports being given the drug by or buying it from a friend or relative.

When trying to accomplish something great, if you check in too often with your progress, then you can be getting in your own way. I had to learn this the hard way, but, fortunately, there is a way out.

In a two part series, we invite readers to find the egoism in their consumerism and push it aside to make room for solidarity and a new kind of consumer society rooted in sustainability--of healthy conditions in the world's workplaces, fun spaces, and ecosystems. In this column we look at how inward-looking consumerism offers no way out of our stress filled digital lives.

As more and more of us live in cities, we spend less time in natural settings, including parks. Studies also show that people in urban settings without access to green spaces have higher levels of psychological problems than those with access to green spaces.

Codependency can be confusing for people in a relationship with someone who has an addiction to alcohol, drugs or compulsive behaviors. Here is a simple way to understand what is going on and avoid the pitfalls.

Conflict is a part of every relationship. It’s often more pronounced for family’s affected by addiction. Often moms, dads, sisters and brothers disagree on how best to handle the thorny situations fueled by the addict’s behavior.

One of the main reasons I don’t like gambling at Internet casinos is that I believe the majority of game outcome are likely to be pre-programmed and/or predetermined. To me, this is somewhat akin to playing with imaginary dice! But what do we know psychologically about what factors promote and inhibit gambling online?

Do you know about the dangers lurking in your medicine cabinet? Chances are, like many of us, you have one or more unused prescription bottles sitting in your medicine cabinet right now. For parents with teens, this can be a very dangerous scenario.

Of course, I see it every day because I work in the addiction treatment field, but increasingly, families that never thought they’d be touched by substance abuse or addiction are having just that experience.

For too long, he said, harsh mandatory sentencing guidelines, mostly involving drug use, have been disproportionately affecting minorities and the poor, and costing both those who are imprisoned and the society paying for that imprisonment far too much.

When you’re enjoying something, you’re not trying to manage it and when you’re trying to manage it, you’re no longer enjoying it. But I didn't know that so I tried a trifecta of ridiculous ways to keep my cocaine use under control.

Recent media stories have reported on the alleged negative effects of box-set bingeing (‘Watching TV box-set marathons is warning sign you're lonely and depressed - and will also make you fat’). But what do we know about box-set bingeing psychologically and is it really bad for our health?

Omar Sharif, who died recently, was known for his roles in great movies like "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago." Many people also knew that he was a world-class bridge player but I, for one, was surprised to learn that he had lost several fortunes over the years while gambling on the game.

I have created a compassion cure program for former victims of trauma that includes: self-understanding, self-forgiveness, self-acceptance, self-kindness, and self-encouragement. This article focuses on the first of these five components of self-compassion.